Bottled Beer
by KellyJade
Summary: You're losing it, and you need someone to pull you out of the grave you're digging for yourself.


"Do you want a beer?"

The girl's voice isn't hostile. It's not coated in a slick layer of false bravado either, like the countless other voices Tamsin has heard tonight. So the owner of the voice isn't a stuck up bitch trying to kick the Dark drunk out of the Light bar _or_ an asshole trying to score.

The voice is also familiar. The haze of alcohol delays the recognition for a second, but Tamsin gets there. "Why are you talking to me?" she sighs, not looking up from the table where a tumbler of gin and soda rests, almost empty. "Shouldn't you be at home playing Pictionary or something?"

Against Tamsin's expectations, Kenzi sits down at the table, clunking two beers down next to Tasmin's dwindling drink. "I'm talking to you because you need me to," she says confidently, crossing her thin arms. "And don't knock Pictionary until you try it. Shit gets intense."

Tamsin's short laugh sounds more like a choke. She glances up at the girl. Kenzi is wearing dark red pants, a black shirt cut off at the elbows and detachable mesh sleeves. And a lot of eyeliner. The human's clear blue eyes bore into the valkyrie's. Tamsin straightens in her seat. Her curiousity has been peaked, against her better judgment. "And why exactly do I need you to talk to me? And what's the beer for? I was doing fine on my own." She nods towards the glass on the table. "You may not have clued in, but that ain't water, kiddo."

Kenzi rolls her eyes. As much as Tamsin hates to admit it, the human girl has some admirable attitude. "First, just because you've got one drink doesn't mean you don't need another. And second, you need me to talk to you because you're spiralling, Detective Sulk-yrie." Kenzi uncrosses her arms so she can reach for the table and grab one of the beer bottles by the neck. She takes a short gulp, her striking eyes never leaving Tamsin's. "You're losing it, and you need someone to pull you out of the grave you're digging for yourself." With her free hand, she points dramatically to herself. "Enter _moi_."

Tamsin just stares at her. And then she starts to laugh – a choking, humourless laugh that scares even herself. As the blonde struggles to regain her composure, Kenzi doesn't react, she just watches silently, sipping her beer. This more than anything else ends Tamsin's short episode. She shakes her head, the last horrible, empty chuckle fading away. "You're planning on saving me from myself," she says flatly, looking at the slight human sitting across from her. "How exactly are you going to do that?"

Putting the beer bottle down, Kenzi leans in and crosses her arms on the table. "I'm not a therapist," she starts simply, "And I'm not going to pretend to be your friend either. Hell, we don't even know each other that well. But I know something's wrong with you, and I also know that you have told a grand total of no one about it." She drums her fingernails, painted black, on the wooden table's faded finish. Her eyes don't leave Tamsin's. "Maybe you feel like you can't. Maybe you don't feel close enough to anyone. Well I'm here to tell you – tough fucking luck. You can be your badass self and bottle all your shit up. But keeping everything inside until you self destruct and drive yourself crazy isn't badass. It's just stupid."

The girl cuts off her rant abruptly then, and leans back, away from the table. For the first time since they've been talking, Tamsin can see a bit of the human's tough demeanour falter. And she recognizes that maybe Kenzi knows more about her situation than she'd let on. '_Fuck_,' the detective thinks to herself. '_The damn gothic teeny-bopper just might be getting to me._' Sighing internally, Tamsin reaches forward, and instead of the vestiges of her gin soda, she grabs the second beer bottle Kenzi brought. Holding the dark haired girl's gaze, she takes a sip. "I'll bite," she says simply.

Kenzi nods. Subtly, the edge of her lips turn up in a slight smile. "Tell me about you and Bo."

Although she was half expecting it, the question makes a shiver go up Tamsin's spine. She half considers just getting up from the table and heading for the door. She got a free beer out of this deal already. Not too late to walk away. But then she lets out a long breath and speaks, averting her eyes from Kenzi's piercing gaze. "Bo is …" The valkyrie struggles for the right word. "Different. When I came here – well, I wasn't expecting her to be so…"

"Bo?" Kenzi completes, smiling more clearly now. "Yeah. I've been there. She surprises you."

Tamsin pressed the heel of her palm to the socket of her closed eye, frustrated. "Of course she does. Wonder-Bo! The unaligned succubus, the poster girl for all that is honourable and powerful. Always doing the right thing, always winning over the hearts of anyone she bats an eye at…" The valkyrie trails off, rests her arm on the table. "It's all so sickeningly fairy tale."

Kenzi laughs. "I don't know what kind of fairy tales you heard as a kid, but you might give Russian folklore a run for its money." She raises an eyebrow. "So that's your problem? You think Bo's overrated?"

Looking up, Tamsin scowls at the dark haired girl. "You know that's not what I meant." She grits her teeth, and takes a gulp of beer. "Fuck, I _wish_ that's what I meant."

Kenzi traces a slim finger around the lip of her beer bottle. "I thought so," she says, her words sounding slow and careful. But then, as if she can't help it, a cheeky grin slides onto her face. "So how'd it happen? How'd you go from hating her guts to mackin' on her in Brazenwood?" The young girl grins wider. "Pretty _Brazen_ of you, Detective."

The look on Tamsin's face could have sent a full grown man running for his mother. Somehow, Kenzi stands her ground and holds her gaze. "First of all, that was awful," growls the blonde. "Second of all, Bo really does tell you everything. Typical." Then she sighs, running her fingers through messy blonde hair. "Ugh. I don't know. God, I hate it when I fit the pattern. I just talked with her, spent some time with her and _poof_!" She lifts a hand, waving her fingers emphatically. "I was suddenly on Team Bo with everyone else."

Kenzi watches silently for a moment as Tamsin takes another healthy drink of beer. "You know, you're not just '_everyone else_'," the dark haired girl says after a while.

Tamsin shoots her a questioning look. "No? Do I need to make you a list, short stuff? Lauren, Dyson… probably half the people in this bar, actually." She gestures around. "I'm just another weak kneed admirer like the rest of them."

Kenzi smirks. "Maybe in that sense. But I wasn't talking about _you_." The human emphasizes this by poking a finger sharply at the valkyrie. "I was talking about Bo." She smiles a bit wider. "I've seen her cycle through her share of lusty lovahs, but honey with you she's stuck."

As much as she doesn't want to – as much as she _hates_ that she does, Tamsin perks up. "Stuck?" she repeats, not quite able to fully suppress the hopefulness in her voice.

"Uh huh," replies Kenzi, nodding with a pleased expression. She leans back in her chair, taking a swig of beer. "See, Bo's got this whole 'I'm a succubus and sexy-things aren't a big deal' complex. She likes to get into one kinky situation after another and shrug it off immediately." The dark haired girl puts on a high voice. "_It's my nature, Kenz_," she pantomimes, accompanying this with a practiced eye roll. "Anyway, that's her deal. Even with relationships. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to get her to admit she likey-liked Dyson when they first starting hooking up. It was like two weeks and she was _totally_ crushin' – "

"I prooobably don't need to hear the details of that," Tamsin cuts in quickly, contributing an impressive eye roll of her own. This human girl definitely has a tendency to babble. "Jesus, I thought I was done with high school gossip when you people cured me of that parasite."

"Right," Kenzi amends quickly. "Okay, got a bit off topic. But regardless, that whole sneaky denial thing? She's having quite the repeat with you, babe."

Tamsin tries to look nonchalant as her heart skips a beat. She takes another sip of beer. "Repeat how?"

Kenzi smiles again. "She told me about your little kiss right before her Dawning. She was confused, didn't know exactly how to interpret it, so I couldn't get any details out of her at all." The girl pauses thoughtfully. "Actually, when I tried, she _literally_ ran away from me. Hello, avoidance techniques! But anyway." She moves one hand in a circular motion. "Moving on. Dawning passes, still nada on the cop-kissing info front. And at that point, I started to think." She leans forward, towards Tamsin. She smiles. "And I did a liiiittle snooping."

That revelation takes a second to click. But then Tamsin groans. _Oh brilliant._ "Why do I get the feeling the paranoia I've been getting lately isn't just a side effect of the gnarly absinthe I got from that sketchy Red Cap dude?"

The Russian girl shrugs, her eyes glinting mischievously. "I didn't like, hardcore stalk you or anything! I just may have… done some research." She takes a quick sip of beer as Tamsin scowls at her. "I mean I figured – Bo's been acting up, okay. It could be a lot of things – but if her latest blonde bombshell is acting up too… Well, that means Bo-bo's recent broody silences and forty five minute long bubble-baths with a bottle of wine probably have something to do with a new flame she can't _quite_ put out."

Tamsin sighs. "Well I guess I don't have to ask you what you found out in your 'research'."

Kenzi nods, an eyebrow raised. "Yeaaah. And can I just say… yikes, girl. At least Bo fills her bathtub with water and not vodka." The slight human watches as the valkyrie rolls her eyes again. After a brief pause, she continues. "So that pretty much brings us full circle. Here you are, drinking your sorrows away with great aplomb. And here I am, helping you get out of the bottom of liquor bottle and into Bo's toned and welcoming arms." She pauses again, for effect. "You're welcome."

Tamsin gives a short choking laugh. "God, you're naïve," she mutters. Then she fixes Kenzi with an intense stare. "Do you think this is just some schoolgirl crush problem? There is some real _shit_ involved in this whole situation that complicates it more than you could even comprehend! So maybe just run along, human, and stop butting into things you can't possibly…" And then something occurs to her and her heart almost stops. "…know about…" she finishes, her voice suddenly so faint her words are barely a gasp, her mouth dropping slightly open.

Because Tamsin's brain has just recalled the information Kenzi has revealed tonight – about snooping. About _watching_ Tamsin's actions over the past few weeks. As her terrified thoughts kick into overdrive, she sees the dark haired girl wince guiltily, and then her heart is pounding in her ears, deafening. _No, no, no, no, no…! _"Kenzi, you didn't," she asks urgently, shell-shocked, knowing the answer already.

"Unfortunately, I totally did," Kenzi admits, her voice serious. "You Fae folk really need to do more thorough lookouts – I slipped right through Acacia's security measures. She was only looking for Fae-spies, my humanness let me right in." As she watches Tamsin's eyes widen in horror, she quickly speaks again. "Okay, relax though – I didn't tell Bo. I didn't tell anyone, actually."

Tamsin sits in shocked silence for a second. "Wait… you didn't tell Bo?"

Kenzi shakes her head. "Nope."

Trying to calm her racing thoughts, the valkyrie leans forward toward the human. Her eyes are frantic. "Why? You do realize what I did, don't you?" Her voice breaks a little at the end of her sentence, and her usual icy poise falters. "What I did to _her_…" Her voice breaks then, and she can't go on.

As Kenzi watches, a flash of deep, deep pain appears in Tamsin's eyes. The depth of the feeling she can see there is shocking – strong and sharp, like a knife wound. '_God_,' the dark haired girl thinks to herself. '_I guess I can see why she's been drinking so much_.'

The silence becomes too painful to sit through. "Yeah. I know what you did," Kenzi says aloud, breaking it. "But you know what? I believe in second chances." The two women gaze at each other, and Kenzi tries to convey as much sincerity as she can in both her voice and her eyes. She presses a closed fist against the wooden table. "And yeah, you fucked up. But I get why you did it. You were terrified." She swallows, trying not to cross any lines. "And… Acacia was hurt because of you standing up for Bo. And that's shit. I mean that's just not something you should have to deal with." When Tamsin just sits there, her face blank, Kenzi takes it as a cue it's okay to go on. She lowers her voice. "Girl… I don't know how far you've gone with all this. I don't know where that little bottle is right now. And I don't know what you're planning to do with it. But you know what's right, Tamsin."

The blonde's voice is as soft as Kenzi has ever heard it, but it still has an edge. "You really think I'll do the right thing? You don't even know me. You don't know what I've done."

Kenzi shrugs. "You're right. I don't." She examines her beer bottle, it's almost empty. "But yeah, I think you'll do the right thing. And you know something else?" She leans again towards the silent valkyrie. "I meant what I said earlier. If this all works out – I may even help you snag a certain succubus." She smiles. "In that department, I'm a good ally to have."

Tamsin doesn't know what to say. "Why?" she decides on.

The dark haired girl winks. "Bo and I get along for a reason, Detective." She raises her beer bottle to her lips and drains it. Then she stands up. "We're full of surprises." As she's walking away, she yells to Trick, who is nearby, talking to a group of patrons. "Hey Trickster! Put her next one on my tab!"

And she's gone. And Tamsin sits alone at the table. A moment later, the bartender appears at her elbow. "What was that about? I didn't know you and Kenzi were close."

Tasmin has a lot more beer left in her bottle, but she still drains it all in one gulp. "I didn't know either," she answers, setting the empty bottle back on the table.

If the bartender finds her behaviour strange he doesn't let on. "Well then, what'll it be?"

The valkyrie is silent for a moment. Then she stands up abruptly, grabbing her black leather jacket from the back of her wooden chair. "Nothing," she says curtly. "I have some things that I need to do." And she heads towards the door, leaving Trick standing confused by the empty table.


End file.
